Below is a collage of the logos of national level institutes and universities of Odisha. (IIIT is trying to get there.) Note that except NIT Rourkela, which started as an REC in 1961 and became NIT in 2002, the rest have been established in the last 5 years:

We have collected some information on AIIMS Bhubaneswar below. Hope it is useful to the 2012-13 batch of selected students and faculty. Latest information is at this facebook album.

Prof. A.K. Mahapatra (Currently Professor & Head of the Dept. Of Neurosurgery at the
Neurosciences Centre, AIIMS, NEW DELHI-11029) has been selected as the founding director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar. He is waiting for his release from AIIMS New Delhi to formally take on his new position. His contact details are mentioned in his CV.

[Update on 16th August 2012: From today’s news it seems Prof. Mahapatra has formally taken charge of the Director’s position and has taken some immediate actions.]

Earlier news on AIIMS Bhubaneswar are categorized here or here. A few years back we compiled some information on Odisha and Bhubaneswar which may come in handy.

If anyone has any related questions please put a comment and we will try to answer. But first, please explore the above mentioned links. One may also explore the links in the right hand side of this page and the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/odishagrowth.

Despite the slow pace of construction work, the first academic session of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar is all set to begin from September this year while its hospital would be ready next year, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said today.

… The Director for the upcoming prestigious institute has already been selected and selection of faculties had also been completed, he said.

"Now all work and preparations (are) for starting the classes this year and the hospital by 2013 with full pace. People are working day and night to complete the work as per our plan," Azad said.

Earlier in http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/7218 we wrote about the advertisement on admission to the new AIIMS like institutes in Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, and Rishikesh. The ad mentions that the first batch of class in these institutes is tentatively supposed to start in Fall 2012. For the classes to start in Fall 2012 faculty and administrators need to be hired. There is indication that such hiring is in full swing. Following are some of those indicators.

AIIMS Bhopal and AIIMS Patna have their websites up and running. As of now, the AIIMS Patna website has very little information; but the AIIMS Bhopal website has a lot of information. Note that of the initial six directors that were selected only the ones for Bhopal and Patna accepted the job. (The other four did not and those positions had to be readvertised. Hopefully the directors of the other 4 institutions will be appointed soon.) Hence, they both have web pages.

Other AIIMS like Institutes Under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana

6 New All India Institutes of Medical Sciences are being established similar to AIIMS, New Delhi. Government of India has decided that the Academic Session in six New AIIMS at Bhopal, Patna, Jodhpur, Rishikesh, Raipur and Bhubaneswar starts in August 2012. The proposal is for an intake of 50 students for each of the institutions. The Ministry after deliberation took the view that for the first academic session (2012-2013), selection for admission should be done through the same entrance examination through which candidates are selected for AIIMS New Delhi. The counselling and admission in Six New AIIMS will be done by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. Any dispute in regard to counseling and admission to six new AIIMS will be dealt with by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi.

1:0 NUMBER OF SEATS & RESERVATION

AIIMS NEW DELHI

A. Each year 77 (seventy seven) seats are available for admission to the graduate medical course, leading to the award of the degree of M.B.B.S. by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,Delhi. Out of these, 11 (eleven) seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes, 5 (five) seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, 19 (nineteen) seats are reserved for Other Backward Classes and 5 (five) seats are reserved for the Foreign Nationals nominated by the Government of India and 37 (thirty seven) seats for General Category. For Indian Nationals, 3% reservation for orthopaedic physically handicapped shall be provided on horizontal basis, in the seats available. If requisite number of suitable candidates are not available to fill the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the same are filled out of the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Tribes and vice versa. In case suitable candidates are not available from the above two reserved categories, Orthopaedically handicapped and OBCs, the vacant seats will be filled by the candidates from the general category.

SIX AIIMS LIKE INSTITUTIONS

B. From August 2012, Six New AIIMS like Institutions (viz: Bhopal, Patna, Jodhpur, Rishikesh, Raipur and Bhubaneswar) will start with an intake of 50 students each. The reservation policy followed will be 7.5% ST, 15% SC and 27% OBC. For Indian Nationals, 3% reservation for Orthopaedic physically handicapped shall be provided on horizontal basis, in the seats available.

… The candidate is required to go through the prospectus carefully and acquaint himself/herself with all requirements with regard to filling in of the online application form. Candidates are advised to give order of preference for the Six New AIIMS, apart from AIIMS New Delhi in the Application Form.

… For enquiries relating to Counseling and Admission to Six new AIIMS,please contact from 1st July, 2012 onwards:

The fist academic session of the city centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) medical college is set to begin from August this year. The 500-bed multi-speciality hospital is expected to start functioning from December 2012.

“The session for the first batch of students for AIIMS medical college will begin from August 2012 with an intake of 50 seats. We expect the hospital to be operational from December this year. Work on the AIIMS campus is 65 per cent complete,” said P K Pradhan, Union health secretary. On the state government’s demand for funds for seat hike in three government run medical colleges, Pradhan said, “The Chief Secretary has said that the state government intends to raise intake of each of three medical colleges from 150 to 250. This requires an investment of Rs 100-150 crore per college for infrastructure upgrade. We are coming up with a scheme wherein we can provide funds to the state government for upgradation of infrastructure at medical colleges.”

Various Odia papers report that as of today 65% of the Hospital building construction and 70% of the college building construction are completed.

The report of the steering committee on health for the 12th five year plan (incorporating reports of all working groups and deliberations in Committee meetings) has suggested opening of four new prototypes of premiere All India Institute of Medical Sciences ( AIIMS) in addition to the eight already approved.

… Union health ministry is in the process of constructing six AIIMS-like institutes in Patna, Raipur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh at a cost of Rs 847 crore each, up from Rs 332 crore that was originally estimated. There are expected to be ready by July, 2012.

The Planning Commission has given approval to two more AIIMS-like institutes in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. …

With 26 medical institutions have been approved for upgrade, the panel has said an additional 30 medical colleges established at least 20 years ago be identified for support through Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna.

“Other medical colleges, in private or voluntary sector may also be considered for upgrade and strengthening for starting new postgraduate disciplines and increasing post-graduate seats,” the report says.

Four top doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have been chosen as directors for the four upcoming AIIMS prototypes. The Union health ministry has sent a letter to professor of neurology Dr Kameshwar Prasad, professors of medicine Dr S K Sharma and Dr Rita Sood and professor of gastroenterology Dr S K Acharya offering them the coveted posts.

While Dr Prasad has been asked to take over the institute in Raipur, Dr Sharma has been offered the Jodhpur branch, Dr Sood the Rishikesh branch and Dr Acharya the Bhubaneswar branch. All of them have been asked to join on November 1.

… Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha recently that the medical colleges of these six institutions will be functional by next year. Ministry officials said the colleges would be functional from July, 2012, while the hospitals would be in place by early 2013.

"For the first year of medical education, students don’t require hospital visits. That’s why the colleges will start from next year," an official said.

Each of the six medical colleges – a Rs 10,000-crore project – will have 100 MBBS seats. Each of the hospitals will have 960 beds, including 500 beds for the medical college hospital, 300 beds for speciality/super speciality and 100 beds for ICU/accident trauma.

The Union health ministry has also put three of the best known existing medical institutes – AIIMS, Delhi; JIPMER, Puducherry; and PHI, Chandigarh, in charge of helping the six new institutes stand on their feet. AIIMS, Delhi, has been mentoring the two new institutions in Patna and Bhubaneswar, PGI has been mentoring those coming up in Rishikesh and Jodhpur, while JIPMER has been overseeing the prototypes in Bhopal and Raipur.

"The existing institutes will help the new ones select their faculty, establish their laboratory network, conduct entrance exams and plan their curriculum," an official added.

With the beginning of construction work of IIT Bhubaneswar (IITBBS) campus on Sunday, work for permanent infrastructure of all three premier central institutes in city fell on track. While work for the campus of National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) here started on July 21, infrastructure for AIIMS is at an advanced stage of completion. All three institutes hope their permanent campuses to be functional by 2013.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the IIT campus construction at Aragul village near Jatni on a 950 acre plot of land. IITBBS director, professor M Chakraborty, said the master plan of the campus has been designed to accommodate 10,000 students, 1,000 faculty members and 1,100 non-teaching employees, besides 1,000 out-sourced support staff. The institute also has plans to construct a research park, he said.

The first phase of work, undertaken by CPWD at an estimated Rs 800 crore, would be limited to hosting a capacity of 2,500 students, 250 faculty members and 300 other employees. Chakraborty hopes the institute will shift to its permanent campus by 2013 end or beginning of 2014.

At the already provided budget of Rs 388 crore, IITBBS would construct a main administrative building, lecture hall and classrooms, a laboratory complex, four academic schools (basic science, electrical, infrastructure and mechanical engineering), central workshop and students’ activity centre. The main building is slated to be a six-storey structure and the other schools of four storey each. The hostels as well as the residential quarters are to be seven-storey buildings, Chakraborty said.

Apart from its city campus, the IIT would also set up an innovation centre for climate change on the Puri-Konark coastline, under the School of Earth Ocean and Climate Sciences, the director said.

Construction of the permanent campus of NISER started on a 300-acre site about a month ago, also near Jatni, on July 21. The Rs 457 crore project would include a prayer hall on the hill top, five schools of different specialties, 11 hostels of 200 capacity each, healthcare centre and guest house, said NISER registrar Abhay Naik.

Work for the AIIMS, which started on 100 acres land at Sijua village in May 2010, is at a stage of about 80% completion, sources said. The proposed 978-bed hospital, under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, is supposed to have 15 super speciality and 18 speciality wards.

The page at http://mohfw.nic.in/showlink.php?id=698 documents the progress of the various AIIMS-like institutes across the country and as one can find out the progress is the least with respect to AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar. That is a shame.

A bigger shame is that many other states have managed to get approval for additional AIIMS level institutions while Odisha, despite our many emails to the CMO, has not tried that. Odisha should push hard to get both MKCG and VSS Medical colleges upgraded to the AIIMS level.

The civil construction works for the six new AIIMS-like institutions at Bhubaneswar, Patna, Jodhpur, Rishikesh, Raipur and Bhopal started in June last year and were progressing on fast track. The construction of medical colleges is expected to be completed by the end of 2011 and Hospitals by October 2012, sources said.

Ministry of Finance has accorded approval in February, 2011 for creation of 1145 posts (faculty and staff) for each institution to be filled up in the first phase of recruitment process. To manage the running of the new institutions, the Health Ministry has now appointed mentor institutes.

As per this, All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi will be the mentor institute for the two new institutions at Patna and Bhubaneswar. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh will take care of the two institutions at Rishikesh and Jodhpur. Jawaharlal Institute of Post-graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry will run the affairs of the two new institutions at Bhopal and Raipur, sources said.

Excerpts: If you think you rate among the best, carry vision, dynamism, enterprise and intellectual integrity, and harbour a passion for establishing and heading India’s most premium healthcare institution, this could be the opportunity you have longed for. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is setting up six autonomous medical institutions in different parts of country (Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur, and Rishikesh) on the lines of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. You could head one of these premier medical institutions, if you possess the right credentials.

You would lead a team of highly qualified medical professionals and teachers in different specialties, drive policy-making with innovative and best practice norms, facilitate first-rate patient care, clinical research, and academics, and create a facility of which the country can be proud. You will train the best of medical graduate and post graduate to generate much needed teaching faculty for the country.

… In total, each AIIMS-like institution has been built at nearly Rs 847 crore, up from Rs 332 crore that was originally estimated.

… He added: "More than $2.5 billion will be spent in the next 2-3 years to establish six state-of-art tertiary care institutions modelled on the lines of our premier institute All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the under-developed and under-served regions of the country."

Around 94 eminent scientists, doctors and academicians have applied for the posts of directors in these six institutes. A health ministry’s search-and-selection panel is finalizing the names of six directors from these aspirants’ list. The colleges are located at Patna, Raipur, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur and Rishikesh under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

"Constructing the medical colleges took 15-18 months. Civil work will end by August-September. There will be 600 additional MBBS seats. The hospitals will be ready next year. Each will have 960 beds, including 500 beds for the medical college hospital, 300 beds for speciality/super speciality and 100 beds for ICU/accident trauma,"an official said.

In the second phase of PMSSY, the government has also approved setting up of two more such institutions. Union health secretary K Chandramouli told TOI that "the present schedule is to admit MBBS students from 2012. The hospital will be ready a year later."

Following is from a PIB dated 16th March 2011.

The Minister also informed that nearly Rs 10,000 crores will be spent in the next 2-3 years to establish six state-of- art tertiary care institutions modelled on the lines of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the under-developed and under-served regions of the country. Likewise, over 300 million US dollars are being invested in Government medical colleges for expanding medical seats and 250 million US dollars on establishing 250 nursing schools in the country in the same underserved areas so as to increase the overall availability of health personnel in these states. There is an urgent need for drawing up short term and long term plans to meet unmet requirement of health manpower at the grassroots level, he emphasized. It is for this reason that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has taken several path-breaking initiatives not only towards augmenting the requirements of rural health manpower, but also towards ‘capacity building’ for health professionals in the country. As a consequence of these measures, “I expect that within a short span of time an additional 10000 seats in post graduate medical courses will be created in just three years time – something that has not happened since independence”, he said. The challenge however is now to ensure that the desired quality of teaching and training is not compromised with in any manner, he cautioned. …

A barren stretch of land interspersed with a few rickety structures, construction equipment and promontories of red earth are all that greets a visitor at the proposed site for AIIMS here. While in Bhopal, Patna, Rishikesh and Jodhpur, the construction work of the hospital is nearing completion, Bhubaneswar is still struggling with bricks and mortar, making its ability to meet the construction deadline of mid-2012 an unattainable target.

At Sijua village on the outskirts of the city, where the speciality health centre is coming up, only foundation work was visible. The residential buildings are only 30 per cent complete. Even engineers felt the deadline for the 978-bed hospital, under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, with 15 super speciality and 18 speciality wards, would be difficult to meet.

The civil work for the residential buildings, including type-2, type-3 quarters and bungalows for the AIIMS director, which started in the last week of May 2010, is supposed to be completed by August 2011 (in 15 months).

Similarly, work for the medical college and hospital buildings, which started in the middle of September 2010, is supposed to be completed by September 2012 (24 months from the commencement of work). "The deadline will be hard to meet," said an engineer. …

But deputy secretary, Union ministry of health, Sube Singh, is confident the project will be commissioned in time in the second half of 2012. "The initial hurdles have been removed. The work is going on at a good pace," he said.

A fortnightly progress review of the Rs 820.49-crore project is being done by the health ministry.

The progress in the past two months has been satisfactory, another senior health department official said. Procurement of medical equipment and allied work are being undertaken simultaneously to avoid delay in commissioning of the hospital, he said.

I went to construction site. Indeed there has not been a whole lot of progress. But I could see construction going on in a break-neck speed. The person in charge seemed very hard working and it seemed like things were under control. My impression was that they could do enough construction to start classes in 2012.

The civil work for Package I – medical college started at all the sites in last week of May, 2010 and is scheduled to be completed in 15 months except Patna where duration is 18 months. For package II – medical college, work started in the middle of September, 2010 and it is scheduled to be completed in 24 months from commencement of work. The civil work at all the six sites is at various stages.

At Rishikesh, the provision of basement for medical college has been deleted due to high water level during excavation. Consequently, structural analysis has been re-done and designs was got revised by the Design DPR consultant. At Bhubaneswar, there was resistance from local people for mobilization of activities of the contractor. As such, the work at Rishikesh and Bhubaneswar site are slightly behind the schedule.

An amount of Rs.622.37 Crore for construction of medical colleges and an amount of Rs.1330.71 Crore for hospital complex in respect of all the six sites were allocated. Mobilization advance of 5% has so far been released.

Out of 13 institutions, 10 institutions involve both civil work and procurement of medical equipment and the remaining 3 involve mainly procurement of equipment. Civil work at 4 medical colleges, viz. Trivandrum Medical College, Bangalore Medical College, Salem Medical College and Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow has been completed. The work at Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad; Jammu Medical College and OPD and Academic Block of Kolkata Medical College is likely to be completed by December, 2010 and remaining 3 institutions in 2011.

Procurement of medical equipments for all the 13 medical college is expected to be completed by March, 2011.

This information was given by Minister for Health and Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha today.